An issue of importance in clinical dentistry is the assessment of a tooth's viability. Because of the inherent difficulties in current methods of assessment, optical techniques are being explored as alternatives. Tooth viability is being examined by developing a system which can detect the presence of hemoglobin in the tooth by its absorption characteristics at 585 nm. This system uses a high intensity halogen light source and two narrow band interference filters to measure the ratio of the light intensity exiting the tooth at 585 nm to that at 595 nm. Light is delivered to the tooth by a fiber optic bundle and collected by a bifurcated bundle. An analogue divider continuously computes and displays the ratio of light intensity at the two wavelengths.